‘Luke Cage’ Season 2 TV Review: Still Doesn’t Quite Know What It Wants to Be

It took me about half the second season of “Luke Cage” to figure out why I was having such a hard time getting sucked into it. It’s not that the characters are bad, or that it isn’t written well. Individual pieces of season 2 are, in fact, extremely compelling and even thought-provoking. But the whole of it just doesn’t add up.

Officially, season 2 of “Luke Cage” is about, according to the official synopsis: “With the rise of a formidable new foe, Luke is forced to confront the fine line that separates a hero from a villain.” I can see that, abstractly. The main thrust of the season involves a three-pronged conflict — Luke Cage himself (Mike Coulter) and Misty Knight (Simone Missick) in one corner, Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and Shades Alvarez (Theo Rossi) in another, and a Jamaican badass called the Bushmaster (Mustafa Shakir, who is incredible) in the third.

The Bushmaster has a secret vendetta against Mariah, who is undeniably a terrible person who needs to be taken down, but his methods are brutal and his motivations obscured for longer than they should be — for nearly half the season he just plays like a bloodthirsty gangster looking to carve out his piece of Harlem. His actual story is basically the Punisher in “Daredevil” season 2 all over again, but without the name recognition it’s a lot less obvious what we’re supposed to think about Bushmaster since it takes entirely too long to get to the point.

That three-way conflict sounds cool in theory, but in reality this second season of “Luke Cage” really should have been the first season of a “Bushmaster” show. This story is more about his conflict with Mariah than it is about anything else, and Luke and Misty are just interlopers who are along for the ride.

But that emphasis on Bushmaster vs Mariah could be great if it didn’t feel stapled on top of Luke’s story, which brings me to my main complaint about this season. It feels as though showrunner Cheo Coker and his writing team had a story they wanted to tell — Luke Cage figures out how Mariah Dillard — and that story fell victim to the strange demands of Marvel’s shared TV universe.

Luke Cage has to go up against a superpowered foe, thus we have Bushmaster. There has to be some crossover with the other Marvel Netflix shows, so Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) shows up in one early episode and then disappears forever, and then Danny Rand (Finn Jones) shows up in a later episode talking about his pledge to protect all of Manhattan — and so he can teach Luke about meditation — but then bails without notice once that episode is over even though the fight is not. And after Danny leaves he isn’t even mentioned again. They just had to throw Colleen and Danny in there to tease potential Daughters of the Dragon and Heroes for Hire teamups and not because they are part of this story.

Meanwhile, returning characters also suffer. Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), who is a character shared by all the shows, can’t be in too many episodes here because of that and so she just leaves a couple episodes in and never comes back. Misty Knight gets her trademark robot arm because she has to but it’s barely even acknowledged and its inclusion doesn’t matter much — she certainly does not function as a superhero at any point.

There’s just too much stuff to really do justice to any of it, and that lack of focus makes it tough to latch on to anything the season is trying to do. It’s very rarely about the big picture Luke vs. Mariah vs. Bushmaster conflict, instead swapping between Luke vs Mariah and Luke vs Bushmaster and Bushmaster vs. Mariah at random — never really finding its direction.

To make things worse, it’s just as muddy thematically as its story is. There’s a part midway through where Misty’s captain says that if they don’t get the gang war situation under control in 48 hours then the governor will probably call in the National Guard and, because the war involves a Jamaican gang, ICE. But that threat, and any of its potential thematic and story ramifications, are quickly forgotten even though the situation definitely only gets significantly worse from there. The season is full of things like that, compelling topics and thematic material that are broached and then tossed aside.

When I look back at season 2 of “Luke Cage” as a whole I see a half-dozen really interesting stories that all could have worked on their own. But the problem is that it needs to function as one big story, not six individual ones. And since those individual arcs never really congeal into something coherent, the whole of it simply does not work.

It’s a problem we’ve seen multiple times with these Marvel shows. The best chunks of this TVverse are still the first seasons of “Jessica Jones” and “The Punisher” because they stayed focused. And “Luke Cage” season 2, like the first season before it, ultimately falls apart because it doesn’t.

Every Marvel Comics Live-Action TV Show Ranked, from 'Incredible Hulk' to 'Daredevil'

The recent high-profile shows on Netflix, ABC and FX aren't the first ones Marvel has taken to the small screen. Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Blade and even knock-off-ish X-Men had a go before the current golden age. Here are all the Marvel shows, ranked from goofiest pajama costumes to best character-driven dramas.

17. “Spidey Super Stories” (1974-77)Spider-Man takes on some super-boring villains. He goes up against The Prankster (a school principal who keeps pranking his students) and The Spoiler (who just likes to everyday things for people) in these goofy sketches in PBS’ “The Electric Company.” Worth a few minutes of watching on YouTube.

16. "Mutant X" (2001-04)Delightfully 2001 in every way, the syndicated “Mutant X” is the knock-off "X-Men" TV show with a low budget a lot of people probably wanted. With obviously pulled punches and early CGI, “Mutant X” scratches an itch for a brand of superhero show that’s completely rooted in the world of 20 years ago.

15. "The Inhumans" (2017-current)

Nobody seemed able to get over bad wigs and CGI of "The Inhumans" when it first started, and the show didn't improve much from there. Thin plots and boring characters make this the least interesting of all the modern Marvel shows.

14. “Blade: The Series” (2006)Spike TV took the successful “Blade” movies and made a TV show. It’s a decent precursor to the grittier Marvel takes that would later show up on Netflix. Violent, blood-splattered vampire hunting couldn’t hold an audience in 2006, though.

13. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (2013-current)For much of its run, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has been more or less answering the question, “Hey, what are the normal people up to?” That can be pretty engaging, although keeping the show up with the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity on a budget sometimes reigns it in.

12. "The Defenders" (2017)After four separate, individual series, Netflix and Marvel unite Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Luke Cage and the Iron Fist to save New York in "The Defenders." The culmination of several series' stories and the combination of all four different personalities makes "The Defenders" a lot of fun, but the short series winds up confusing and a bit anti-climactic in its final few episodes.

11. "The Incredible Hulk" (1977-82)Green Lou Ferrigno helped carry “The Incredible Hulk” through five seasons. The formula of David Banner wandering around America, getting into adventures and helping people, is pretty standard for TV. But there’s plenty of wrong-doers to trigger the Hulk’s rage and get him involved — for justice.

10. “Spider-Man” (1978-79)

A pretty deep departure from the Marvel Comics stories, the Japanese take on “Spider-Man” is worth a look just for the way Spider-man pushes a button on a bracelet that shoots out his suit. This version fully understands to folly of trying to make a serious Spider-Man thing in the '70s and goes gleefully the other way with plenty of self-awareness.

9. "The Runaways" (2017-current)

Hulu's first Marvel offering takes a different tack than its other shows. Focusing on a diverse group of teenagers, it's much more about a mystery concerning the parents -- who might, in fact, be evil -- than a bunch of people punching each other.

8. “Agent Carter” (2015-16)

TV gives Marvel the chance to dig into smaller side stories adjacent to its movies. “Agent Carter” takes that idea to its logical extent, turning out a period show led by a woman and Captain America pal. It gets to explore minor characters pretty intimately, while adding depth to the world when it comes time to turn on an “Avengers” movie.

7. "The Gifted" (2017-present)

Spinning off from the realm of "The X-Men," "The Gifted" starts out as a pretty standard superhero story. But with a family angle, some interesting and involving characters, and story topics that go beyond the usual "X-Men" fugitive angle, "The Gifted" is evolving into an interesting new take on the "X-Men" idea.

6. “Luke Cage” (2016-current)

Giving a different perspective on superheroes than anything that’s come before it, Netflix’s “Luke Cage” adds breadth to the MCU that shows how deep and interesting it can be. It’s also very aware of its time and place in culture and doesn’t shy away from the issues inherent in focusing on a bulletproof black man.

5. “Daredevil” (2015-current)

The first of Netflix and more down-to-earth superhero TV shows that take place in shadow of the Marvel Cinematic Universe does a great job of making Daredevil seem like a mostly regular dude. It’s also full of great, visceral fight scenes that pack an intensity that CGI can’t really achieve. And season 3 took the series to a whole new level, elevating it from simply fun to watch to legitimately good.

4. "Iron Fist" (2017-2018)The first season was really, really rough in every way, but season 2 was a whole different animal. It's fun and adventurous in a way none of these other shows are -- basically masterful trash.

3. “Jessica Jones” (2016-current)

Another lower-key superhero story, “Jessica Jones” brings heroes and villains down to their very human flaws. The way it taps into and explores feminist themes gives a whole different take on the idea of superpowers in the Marvel universe.

2. “Legion” (2017-current)

Visually gorgeous, this slow-burn look at one of the “X-Men” universe’s most powerful mutants does, so far, a phenomenal job of exploring its anti-hero. The focus on the mystery of David’s sanity digs deep into what it’s like, and how to cope, with being a mutant in a way that’s very different from other “X-Men” takes.

1. "The Punisher" (2017-current)

The best of the Netflix Marvel shows so far is "The Punisher." Following the exploits of former soldier Frank Castle, it spends most of its time concerned with a bunch of characters struggling to deal with their own personal tragedies. It also has some of the better action scenes Marvel has yet put in its Netflix series.

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There have been more shows based on Marvel Comics than you probably know

The recent high-profile shows on Netflix, ABC and FX aren't the first ones Marvel has taken to the small screen. Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Blade and even knock-off-ish X-Men had a go before the current golden age. Here are all the Marvel shows, ranked from goofiest pajama costumes to best character-driven dramas.